TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Another writer writes about making technical writing more personable.
It is refreshing to read a piece that comes across as "friendly". Anyone
else have thoughts?
>Standard practice
seems to be for the writer to be invisible,
>ego-less. For a reference work, perhaps, but what about tutorials,
>introductory pieces, etc?
>** Often an identifiable writer-ego works well in third-party documentation,
>but
> in the manufacturer's own documentation it can be cumbersome. Every
> company I've worked for suffers enough panic just producing accurate manuals
> without making sure that the quality of humor is not strained. I imagine
> there's nothing more irritating to a user than a giggling writer who has
> the facts wrong.
> The Durante Effect is also a problem: everybody wants to get inta da act.
> Who decides what writers (or user interface developers) have the proper
> personality to showcase? I don't know any companies with in-house literary
> critics.
> Personally, for that reason, I'd exclude even amusing names like Phil
> O'Dendron, but in general I agree strongly with Sue Gallagher's image
> of "me the book." The book shouldn't say "Help, I'm a creative genius
> cruelly consigned to technical writing." It should be conversational
> for the sake of comfortable reading. It should say, "I was born
> just to help you."
>__________________________________________________________________________
>Mark L. Levinson, SEE Technologies, Box 544, Herzlia, Israel
>mark -at- matis -dot- ingr -dot- com | voice +972-9-584684, ext. 230 | fax +972-9-543917